Friday, November 4, 2011

On Tuesday
I broke the story that a Romney supporter, the subsequent C.E.O. of the National
Restaurant Association after Herman Cain likely had access to inside
information about the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain.

Given a piece of news today about the timing of settlement,
the likelihood Steven C. Anderson had knowledge of at least one of the
settlements is extremely high.

According to
information at the National Restaurant Association Steven C. Anderson took
over at the National Restaurant Association in September 1999.According to Joel Bennett, per CBS
News, attorney for one of the women who received a settlement, the
settlement agreement was executed in September 1999, the same month Steven C.
Anderson took over as C.E.O.It would be
highly unusual to take charge as the executive without knowledge of recent or
impending litigation status.

Steven C. Anderson
claims no knowledge

A reporter took my advice and followed up with Steven C.
Anderson.According to the Boston
Globe:

"Chris Krese, a
spokesman for Steven Anderson, told the Globe, 'He has not commented about this
story because he didn’t have knowledge of the allegations when he was president
and CEO of the (National Restaurant Association). He didn’t have knowledge of
it so he obviously couldn’t have provided the story to the media or anyone, and
he didn’t provide the story to the media or anyone.'”

I tend to take people at their word when their explanation
is plausible, so I left it alone for a few days.

So does Steven C.
Anderson know more than he is saying?

He has to know more.

Set aside the exact timing in September of him taking office
at the National Restaurant Association for a few moments and find some
description of his role when he came aboard:

"Anderson now is learning
the ropes at the NRA. Since the announcement of his appointment in late May, he has spent much of the summer in conducting an organizational audit
of the group and talking With the board's leadership. He also has visited
the Educational Foundation and attended a meeting of the International Society
of Restaurant Association Executives.

In early August he
moved his personal effects -- pictures of his children, several photos of past
presidents wishing him well and framed articles chronicling his career -- into
his new corner office. He now is
collecting the war stories of senior staff members behind closed doors. In
September he will tackle budget issues. After assessing the necessity and
effectiveness of programs that are now in place, he will begin to make changes,
he said." (emphasis added)

In an interview
with Forbes, Herman Cain states in clear terms he believes former aide Curt
Anderson is the source of the harassment scandal leak to Politico on Sunday
evening. In support of this, Mr. Cain identifies
a private conversation he had with Anderson in preparation for 2004 Senate
run. The following factors weigh in
favor of Curt Anderson being the source.
He probably knew something about the scandals and he switched sides
during the Presidential race.

There are a few items
that suggest it was not actually Curt Anderson

1. Curt Anderson denies the conversation took place. This denial should generally be ignored due
to its self serving nature, but if he were lying there are so many better lies to
concoct, than simply “I never knew.”

2. According to Politico
they saw documentation describing the allegations and showing their resolution.
This would have had to come from someone
in possession of the documents.

3. According to Herman Cain in
the Forbes article “When I sat down with my general campaign consultant
Curt Anderson in a private room in our campaign offices in 2003 we discussed
opposition research on me. It was a typical campaign conversation. I told him
that there was only one case, one set of charges, one woman while I was at the
National Restaurant Association. Those charges were baseless, but I thought he
needed to know about them. I don’t recall anyone else being in the room when I
told him.”

All of this makes sense if there was an opposition briefing
that Anderson forgot, and the real source was someone else, a National
Restaurant Association insider.

Based on a suggestion
from a local blogger to look into political donors on the Board of
Directors of the National Restaurant Association for potential ties to presidential
campaigns, I have attempted to identify anyone privy to inside information about
the National Restaurant Association who also has recent ties to any
presidential campaign.

According to the October 2011 FEC report for ROMNEY FOR
PRESIDENT INC. a gentlemen named Steven C. Anderson gave $1,000.00 on July 14,
2011. FEC search function here.

Steven C. Anderson is the
same gentlemen who took over the helm as Chief Executive Officer at the National
Restaurant Association (after a brief intermission) upon Herman Cain's
departure in 1999. As CEO it is highly
likely he would have been privy to details of litigation and threats about litigation
from the immediately previous tenure of Herman Cain.

There is little more than a coincidence between the support for
Mitt Romney and the likelihood that Mr. Anderson knows the background of the
sexual harassment threats. Nonetheless,
watchers of this scandal endlessly pontificate about whether President Obama or
a rival campaign is the driving force behind the bombshell story
that appeared in the Politico on Sunday.

Reporters should follow-up with Mr. Anderson to discern his
knowledge. At the least he likely knows
the short list of people with inside knowledge about the sexual harassment
allegations.

~23:15 11/1/11 UPDATE: Apparently as this post has taken on
a life of its own I need to clarify a few things.

1. This truly is the exact same Steven C. Anderson at the
same address that gave donations while at the National Restaurant Association
in the early 2000’s.

2. I have purposefully not listed his address, and made it
slightly difficult to find. There is an
error in the FEC database that leads to a mistaken link for those who dig
deeper. Rest assured he made the
donation.

3. He may not be the source.
If he is not, then he likely knows the short list of people who could
have been the source.

Lastly, do not forget to follow @ppradoslaw on Twitter as I
broadcast to thousands of conservatives libertarians, and a handful of patient moderates,
democrats, and progressives.

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